One –Day Practice

On March 18th, 2018 (Feb. 2nd Lunar Calendar), thousand devout Buddhists from other regions came to Hoang Phap for the 1st One-day retreat in 2018.

After breakfast, participants gathered at lecture halls for the Dharma Talk shared from Venerable Thich Chan Tinh, the head of the Practice organization department, Abbot of Hoang Phap temple.

Follow the Vietnamese cultural tradition, people will go to temple on the first day of the New Year to pray for the best things next year. The Vietnamese idea emphasizes the “wealth” of happiness and longevity on the first day of the New Year. Their concept is whatever received from the temple, even just a leave, they are “wealth from heaven”, a lucky sign for the next year. Therefore, they all will respect and keep for the whole year as if “their God of Luck”.

They flock to temples and other holy places out of this conception. For own interest, they step on others and by that they open a good occasion for the “bad groups” working.

The Buddha had taught no matter happiness, wealth or obstacles in life caused by individual merit from the past. Every existence is under the Law of Karma’s controlling: good acts give happy fruit and bad act give suffering fruit. Therefore, we are the karma’s owner and creator but not any Creation God.

In life, it’s not so difficult to possess a comfortable life if we know how to plan the bud of happiness. In the case of doing the opposite way, we surely will get the hard fruit. For the successful life, one needs to spend time for learning and cultivating virtues as well as maintaining a wholesome lifestyle. For those who are on the loose or lead themselves to a life of pleasure, there is no effect for their pray.

On March 18, 2018, the “Youth online Newspaper” reported the news that a manager had lost his position after visiting and praying in a temple. Many of government stuff were removed from the office because of praying at the holy places in the New Year.

Are the luckiness and unfortunate arranged by someone in the role of god? If he really exists, why he grants the opposite things to what we prayed? We are now in the modern time, the era of science and technology, so we need to be alert, be perspicacious in seeing the nature of things, blind face leads to superstition in which one’s faith and others are corrupted.

New Year days and holidays are the good occasions for us to be back to the standing of spirit for a peaceful and blissful mind. If we are more skillful, the New Year’s first day will be a cultural beauty and the means leads people to the Buddha’s Dharma treasure. Life is more pretty nice if the Buddha’s teaching available in personal life.

Finishing the Dharma Talk, the people start their practice course as normal.

Here are some images recorded: